Now all of you I'm sure have heard about the Hayden gang and The Rose Mine, their daring exploits at Moon Ridge and Cripple Creek, at least as far as the dime novels tell it. But I don't think many of you know a whole lot about Deke and Kay themselves, when they were young and alone, and that's a story that should be told. For if it's the blood of love that waters the West then this is a spring whose water should be tasted.
Deke Hayden grew up out on the plains during the Western Wars. Like many refugees, Deke's family was taken in by the Indians, Paiute, and fought by their side against Mexico and her allies. The loss of his family and their ranch, and just about everybody he knew to the war, left young Deke free to wonder the world and to come to terms with it as he chose. That was until the Great War came along.
Kay Mapleton, because that's what she was before she was that Kay Hayden you read about, was a child alone in a sea of woe, something that wasn't uncommon during the Great War. She had lost practically all her kin, having just about gotten back up from losing one, when another would keel over on top of her. It's no wonder she learned early, like so many kids of her time, to stand on her own two feet and take matters into her own hands.
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The Rose of the West
AventuraIn an America that might have been, two war orphans from a divided nation, one in the north and one in the south, meet across a vast battlefield, striking out to forge a future together in the west. It's 1892, the fourth and bloodiest year of the Ci...
